My grandmother believed there was this energy connection. I never truly understood until I was much older. She said it was strong enough to forge a heart to the soul. She would lament about this cryptic stuff relentlessly when I was a kid and I’d chalk it up to her old age (40) or her hatred for my grandfather or overcooking the meatballs. I shook my head a lot. In private. I adored her too much to be disrespectful. I thought she was corny most of the time.

Not anymore.

She was funny/strange that way. Nellie believed the genesis of any positive energy was born in the heart. Passion, love. It didn’t matter how good your head was.

If your heart wasn’t in whatever you did, it wasn’t worth shit. I spent much of my life believing in the false energy of ego. A shade of shit. Masked as orange.

And we all know the color of shit.

It isn’t orange.

Well it can be orange. Like at Halloween in the early 70s when I felt it was my duty to eat a dozen Entenmann’s Halloween cupcakes every fall. I recall the “by-product” of overconsumption being orange.

How can you not want to devour 12 of these?

“Grandma, what’s the color of this energy.”

You guessed it.

As a child, happiness danced the color of Princeton orange sparks. And that shade of hope, thank God, hasn’t changed. It disappeared for an extended period. I live with that colorless mark on me. Unfortunate events drain the juice from the orange, quick. It’s never too late for the colors of your life to return.

My ongoing challenge is to continue to experience the orange as a beat-up (and still kicking) adult. And it’s working. The process is slow, but I’ll take it at whatever pace it wants to re-ignite me.

I would dare to say orange has been my pumpkin of joy. All the good things in my life, and I need to count my blessings more often, consistently burst in slices of orange.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way about pumpkin. Or orange.

1). All the best lessons from my teachers and mentors burst orange-red. I have applied their lessons to helping people make better financial decisions. Their written and spoken words have elevated me to be a better money manager, empathize deeper with clients and influential people in my field.

Through continuous guidance from James Altucher I have learned to forgive and choose myself. And every time he reminds me to do so (and he’s there a lot for me) I can smell, feel, touch, the fire of orange.

From Kamal Ravikant my orange glows spiritual. His words are always there, reminding me to live my truth, drop the false seduction of ego, control my efforts every day, create the orange on a daily basis and not to worry about the possible black of an outcome I cannot control. I lived in the dark of outcomes, my failures, for too long.

Srinivas Rao‘s words have encouraged me to form my own instruction manual, color outside rules I’ve created. I’m allowing them to breathe in orange, In the spirit of originality. A mental heat, emblazoned deep in orange flame, has helped me break the rules-based chains others have forged for me to follow.

The path I created, the one I now follow, is emblazoned in orange. The boundaries around those rules are mine to own and if the intentions are true orange, the rules will take me to a new shade of success.

Remember the lessons from your teachers and mentors. Write, highlight them, burn them bright orange into your brain. Thank those teachers for the words as much as you can. Never tire. Never forget. Help them. They need you, too.

2). The best memories I have of my loved ones are tangerine-toned. What I choose to remember – the good things about my family – lessons they’ve taught through imperfect action, the ability I possess to make the best Italian spaghetti sauce (thanks nana), my dad’s flair for dress. The birth of my only daughter. It’s funny. She loves everything orange too. Perhaps it’s genetic.

Never let go of the best of the ones you love. Ones who are here now, those who are gone. Honor them in orange as much as you can. They’re looking out for you. Spirits are orange.

3). The limited shades of genius formed outside my comfort zone glow amber. And when they work, I can feel the flame ignite another flash of brilliance until each step I take bursts in shards of orange.

Always remember how society will seek to force you to follow their version of you.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.”

Steve Jobs

4). The ability to make a difference feels like orange to me. When clients follow my financial advice, when I can help investors overcome an emotional bias, when I know I made an impact to someone’s financial well-being, my faith in orange returns.

Make a difference through your expertise, life experience. We are all experts in something. Even your pain can teach others. How can you share your skills, knowledge in ways that shapes or improves others? Think about it. You already have touched others positively. Now build on it.

5). Orange is sweet, it’s got spice. The environment you live, the people in your life can either add to the sweet and spice of you. Or take it away.

Choose carefully. Say no to an environment and people who suck the sweet and spice out of you. James Altucher has helped me understand the power of “no.” After you say “no,” after the first time, it gets easy. You’ll get good at understanding when to use “no.” Repeating no to yourself is just as important. Are you worthy of saying no, drawing the orange line in the sand?

You are.

And orange will be there.

Orange is autumn.

And autumn reminds us how shedding of the old, transitions us to further growth.